Basic Belief

What Christians believe can be best understood from the Bible, as we read how God has acted to fix the broken relationship with mankind and our world, in the first two pages of the website.
As Christian belief is a journey of living by faith in Jesus, this page tries to give a brief summary of all that is needed to begin that journey.
The page ends with links to the early creeds of the church, which may, or may not, be useful for guidance in your journey.

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the
shadow of death, I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.

John 10:10-11

(Jesus said to them), I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.

John 11:25-26

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

John 3:16-17

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

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Basic Statement of Faith

Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God?

Do you confirm your sin, and your need of His forgiveness?

Do you accept him as your Saviour, and choose to follow Him as your Lord?

Many other Bible verses could have been used instead of those above, but they convey the essential aspect of belief – it is about living in a personal trust and relationship with our Saviour. It is not about intellectual or book knowledge.
And that personal relationship is reflected in the basic statement of faith, in contrast to the creeds which have links below. I have found the creeds to be useful as a road map for navigating human doctrine, but unlike the above verses they are not “inspired”, and they don’t have the same personal relationship as the basic statement of faith.

Notes on above verses

Psalm 23

In this popular psalm of David, he shares two beliefs:
(1) Above all earthly rulers there is a supreme ruler, “The Lord” or God;
(2) The nature of our God is like a caring shepherd who guides, protects, and provides for his sheep. We can simply trust in Him, as we face all that life may throw at us.

John 10, 11

These “I am” statements of Jesus set the basis for Christian faith.
They give the reason for the complete trust in Psalm 23, that Jesus has laid down his life to rescue us from our fallen state and restore us to God.
He has gone before us through the darkest valleys of this life, to prepare the way for us, so we have no need to fear.
And He has promised that by believing in Him, what He has done for us on the cross, and His resurrection from the grave, we will have new life in Him, and not even death can separate us.

Further on Psalm 23

David’s story is fascinating, and has been made into many movies, but I don’t think any quite captured his message in the 23rd psalm.

He was loyal to the psychotic King Saul, who sometimes wanted to hear David’s consoling harp playing, but at other times pursued him with a murderous rage. The importance of David’s trust in God’s care is shown by how he did not respond to Saul with animal self-preservation, but in line with his sense of God’s love for all mankind. When David and his small band of followers were hiding from Saul in a dark cave, Saul searched for him in the cave, and David cut a piece from the bottom of Saul’s robe, to later show him as proof that he could have killed Saul, but did not. (1 Samuel 24)

Such gracious behaviour used to be called “humane”, to distinguish it from animal ferocity. Perhaps it’s unfortunate that people are told they are just another animal?

In my mother’s fading years, she found great comfort in reading this psalm with me.